Goodreads Librarians Group discussion
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Solid cloth covers?
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I've thought about having a default set of cloth graphics that could be usedMichael, I have a bunch of old books like this; they never had dust covers, and the ones I've manually entered I have not bothered to scan the covers. I like your idea about a default set of cloth graphics.
Michael,If you could generate some standard cloth 'covers', and add the ability to add title/author in a basic font, I think that would be much more attractive than the standard no photo available image.
The basic cloth would be ok as well, but I think having text would be better - and I don't think it would be that hard to do - maybe not as part of goodreads, but as a separate tool to share with other librarians who are interested?
Amy, that actually would be fairly trivial to do. Maybe I'll write a little program one night this week to do that.
I like this idea too. I hate that ugly little "Image Not Available" icon. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
So in some sense this turned out to be even easier to do than expected. Here's a test cover I made for a book I currently have from the library which only has a cloth cover.
Another option might be, if technologically possible, to scan or photograph the book at an angle where the spine is visible -- stand it up spine-down on a scanner with the front cover open at ninety degrees, perhaps. I've seen this for a few books, although naturally I can't find them at the moment....
Michael, I like it! It's a vast improvement over the no cover available icon. Different colors???
I downloaded 11 different colored cloth tiles from a free image website. However, I might be able to do one better and let you adjust the color on the fly. Gotta fiddle with it and see how hard this is.
I like it too, Michael.
Is there a way you can "type" the title and author on the pic of the cloth cover? That way, plain looking it may be by today's standards, the basic info will still be there for a visual?
I really like the option of adding the title.LibraryThing has some default plain covers for this sort of scenario, and I've been poaching those for my coverless books, but this would be even better.
That's exactly what the little program I wrote last night does. It lets you customize the color of the cloth cover and add text for author and title (as well as customize font colors, size, etc.). It needs a little more work before it's done, but it's close.
Michael/Amy: I like the cloth covers idea. I, too, hate those "Img NA" blocks! And the option to add a title would be esp nice.
That's exactly what the little program I wrote last night does. It lets you customize the color of the cloth cover and add text for author and title (as well as customize font colors, size, etc.). It needs a little more work before it's done, but it's close.I'm impressed! And grateful! You should be on Goodreads' payroll Michael!
Mod
Ok, so I've made the cover creating program available. It's a Windows program (sorry...multiplatform GUI is a pain and I'm not much of a web programmer), although it will probably work in an emulator with little problem. It allows customization of the cloth/background color and customization of the text and colors, including Title, Subtitle, and Author. Four examples of its use are:
* Genetics, Paleontology, and Macroevolution
* The Social Life of Animals
* Spatial Processes: Models & Applications
* The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin: Gentleman-Burgler
The program can be downloaded from:
http://www.rosenberglab.net/GoodReads...
What I do is scan the intro page or the cloth covers with titles (when available).Example: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40...
It seems to be a technique used by rare book dealers.
Though color blocks is certainly a good idea.
Mod
Michael,the program is fantastic! Thanks so much - it is such an improvement having a nice cloth cover to 'no cover available'. Very happy. :)
Glad people are finding it useful.
Michael, You've added yet another reason for me to consider defecting to a Windows pc.
Maybe you could set up a virtual PC on your Mac using something like Parallels.Either that or we find a decent web programmer to construct a web-interface version.
Thanks Michael. I have a cranky older Mac and I hate to tax it. If my next computer is a Mac it will have an Intel processor and it will be easier to set it up to use Windows programs. I'll do without for now - or possibly borrow a friend's computer at some point and with a list of links use your program to do my covers. It was nice of you to do this! Since 95% of people have Windows these days, most people can easily make use of your creation.
Any ideas on what would be a good substitute? Obviously if there is a dustcover, then the scan of the dustcover would be used, but some books never had dustcovers, but instead are bound with plain cloth covers (even today).
I'm looking for ideas...I've thought about having a default set of cloth graphics that could be used, a special more interesting graphic that could be used for "no cover" in place of the current "missing cover" graphic, or trying to learn not to worry about it (this is clearly the hardest option :-)
Again, just trolling for ideas or suggestions on what to do in these cases...
Historical note: at one time, many [most?] books were purposefully left unbound so that collectors could have them custom bound to match the specifics of their private library/collection; there was no such thing as a standard cover for a given book.